Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
Steljes Limited, one of the UK’s largest and longest-standing distributors confirmed to CRN on Monday that it has gone into administration.
In April, SMART which likely generated two thirds of Steljes’ sales, began supporting resellers directly in the UK and using distribution only for fulfilment.
Some in the UK AV industry think the problem for Steljes started back in January of this year when they exhibited at BETT but were only showing Vividtouch touchscreens – not surprisingly this upset those at SMART.
Other industry insiders told us that Steljes truly believed they were bigger than SMART, often going so far as to hint that SMART would not exist in the UK without them! If this is true then it was very poor decision making that has ultimately led to the demise of the company.
CRN states that “today’s news affects Steljes Limited only, with other parts of the business, including Steljes Rental, unaffected”.
May 24th, 2016 at 00:55 @080
Adrian J Cotterill, you have clearly done no research whatsoever into this short article.
Steljes have never exhibited SMART at BETT. SMART have always exhibited themselves at BETT with the support of Steljes. This year was no different and the SMART stand had numouris Steljes staff on it.
Steljes also had presence on the Nureva stand and the VIVIDtouch stand. Yes, the VIVIDtouch stand did make a large impact but that is likely due to the fact that the product has left the competition standing. That’s why as a reseller I was right behind it.
In terms of Steljes saying they were bigger than SMART, well that’s clearly rubbish. I’ve worked closely with all levels at Steljes and this has never been mentioned.
I have on the flip side met the new team at SMART. Arogance is clear. These corporate heads think they are invincible. Lead by an arrogant CEO who talks the talk but clearly doesn’t walk the walk. The crash in their share price is evidence of this. They have tried to pull the wool over people’s eyes by adjusting their share price and offering a cent in the dollar offering. SMART will be found out.
I do hope that the Steljes staff find new roles soon. I’ve never worked with a more loyal honest partner in my history of business and I for one am appalled by your unfounded statements above.
May 24th, 2016 at 11:30 @521
What an appalling article by Adrian J Cotterill who clearly has no idea on the subject he is writing about.
Anyone who works in this industry knows that SMART Technologies is finished in the UK by choice of the end user, not their distributor.
VIVIDtouch offers an outstanding range of products that leaves SMART’s dated technology and software standing and the recent events that are caused by a lack of demand for their own product will not change this fact.
Steljes have been an outstanding distributor to the UK AV Industry for nearly 30 years, what gives you the right to make uninformed comments like that?
Good riddance SMART Technologies.
May 24th, 2016 at 13:09 @589
Guys, there’s an element of shooting the messenger here.
I used to deal with Steljes years ago and gave up when they split their website about 10 different ways and you could no longer get online pricing.
It took them about two years to sort that little debacle out but they never came looking to see where we had gone, they didn’t feel they needed to.
They became fat and lazy relying on Smart and selling to the big boys, ProAv, Electrovision etc whilst Midwich and the like quietly ate their lunch.
Fast forward to present day and there’s no lifeboat to dive into as a result.
They should have learnt from watching Maverick crash and burn all those years ago.
Nice people I’m sure, they seemed to be when I last dealt with them about 10 years ago but senior management have failed the company and staff.
May 24th, 2016 at 13:49 @618
Being a smaller Integrator compared with the big boys you have mentioned, I couldn’t find your comments further from the truth.
Steljes showed us complete fairness and supported us even when we were up against some of their largest resellers when a lot of the other distributors in the channel wouldn’t entertain us due to fear of upsetting their key resellers.
They were fair, honest and upfront and an absolute pleasure to deal with.
Technology changes and Steljes were at the forefront of this, taking what must have been a very difficult decision to develop their own brand when their long standing Vendor simply wasn’t offering what the end user was looking for anymore and in my opinion completely out of touch with the UK market.
Good on Steljes for developing their own brand in VIVIDtouch which has met the market with outstanding success, facing up to the big boys at SMART whose products simply weren’t delivering anymore.
Hardly fat and lazy.
May 25th, 2016 at 01:13 @092
Gavin, your experience and mine were very different, I found that there really wasn’t anything to differentiate them from any other distributor.
They allowed themselves to become a one trick pony with Smart and the’ve paid the price.